Her eyes were opened after refocusing them from spending so much time on social media, to focusing on things that really matter. That’s what happened to Tony Reinke’s wife when she chose “social media sobriety.” Reinke shares a powerful statement from his wife in his book, 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You.
On the nine-month anniversary of her social media sobriety, she said to her husband, “Compulsive social-media habits are a bad trade: your present moment in exchange for an endless series of someone else’s past moments.”
I can’t stop thinking about this.
I don’t want to be twice-guilty of robbing precious valuable time. I don’t want to be guilty of wasting my own precious time by “investing” in social media posting that’s all about fabricating, curating, and promoting myself or my family. And, I don’t want to be guilty of wasting the precious time of others by feeding their obsession with tracking what I post.
I’ve often said, “If I find it necessary to constantly be letting you know who I’m with, what I’ve done, where I am, or what I’m eating. . . well, then I’ve got a pretty huge problem. And, if you want to know those things about me. . . well, then you’ve got an even bigger problem than I have.”
There’s so much we lose. . . even beyond time. I’m afraid we are losing our grounding and our minds.
I’ve been wondering lately if the most kind thing we could do for each other in response to our online obsessions is to simply respond with #keepitinyourfamily and #whocares.